March is a fun month

I must confess, a month in which Pancake Day and a mini-Budget both happen, is a good one in my books.

February has indeed been the pressure cooker I predicted it would be in my last column. March might hopefully be looking up.

There is a hint of a hint on the horizon that inflation might be reaching something vaguely resembling a peak. Coronavirus restrictions are being abandoned liberally.

The Government, whether you’re a fan or not, seems to have weathered the media storm of #Partygate and appears to be at least attempting to get back to something like business.

March is also ISA Season, that hallowed space in the calendar all financial journalists wait for with nervous anticipation each year. True, it may not be quite as relevant as in years gone by, but who doesn’t love a good three-page pull out on the nation’s favourite tax-efficient account?

But more specifically, what have we got coming up?

Pancake Day falls on 1 March this year. I always thought it tended to happen in February, but this is certainly a nice start to the month.

On 8 March is International Women’s Day, a fantastic annual moment to celebrate women’s achievements and highlight serious issues that society must do better on.

We have the latest wages and employment from the ONS on 15 March, followed by the latest decision from the US Federal Reserve on Monetary Policy on 16 March.

The day after that on 17 March is the latest MPC rate decision from the Bank of England, and 18 March is Global Recycling Day. Plenty to chew on in that week then!

Finally, the grand finale comes on 23 March when Rishi Sunak delivers his Spring Statement, often dubbed a ‘mini-Budget’. The banner event in the UK financial media calendar, I would expect nothing less than several rabbits out of Sunak’s hat as the country deals with a cost-of-living crisis.

That being said, Mr Sunak has a habit of just announcing things as he goes, which might take some of the fun out of it this time round. UK inflation reports in the morning ahead of this too, just to make things more frenetic.

Oh, and don’t forget Mother’s Day on 27 March. You have been officially forewarned!

All the best and wishing you a productive start to Spring from MRM, Mouthy Money and Capital City Media.